Ladybug Cake

I made this cake for a friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party. She bought supplies and came over to help me put it all together. It was a lot of fun working on a project with "support staff" so to speak. I enjoy talking about cake decorating so I explained how I do things when I make cakes and she and I had a blast! Her daughter loves sunflowers so we incorporated that into the design.



I made cupcakes for the kids and we worked together to make ladybugs, flowers and leaves ahead of time. There is one little pink ladybug to represent her daughter and all the others are red. I was so worried there wouldn't be enought sunflower petals so I continued making them until all of my yellow fondant was gone!





I made the big ladybug out of krispie treats and stuck a lollipop stick into her head to help hold it higher and secure it.



The cake is chocolate/vanilla layers with buttercream filling/crumbcoat and marshmallow fondant. All of the decorations(excepting the krispie treat ladybug) are fondant.

Here's the view from above:


I had a lot of fun with this cake! I hope you enjoy it too!

Blessings!

A question for you!

Okay. I have some projects lined up and two of them are falling pretty close together. I have to work with limited time due to the kids and often need several days to make all the fondant and buttercream before I even start baking the cake and putting it all together.

I have a quick question. Those of you who have traveled with kids know you have to take everything but the kitchen sink with you. My daughter's food needs often involve packing extra items as well. Meaning...limited car space.

In this situation, where you had a cake to make for a locale that is hours away. Do you:
A) Bring some supplies, have nothing made (well maybe the icings premade) and work with what your friend has when you get there...doing the whole cake (baking, icing, covering, stacking, decorating) in one day and one night.
B) Make the whole cake ahead of time, cover it in fondant, decorate what you can (and finish decorations/stacking at locale) and balance it on your lap in a cake box the whole drive (keeping in mind this would put the cake done a day and a half early and make for no hand freedom to check on the kids during the drive).
C) Bake the cakes, make the icings and just bring them and supplies with you to the location where you fill, ice, stack and decorate.

Honestly...I have NO idea which would be best...I keep rolling it all around in my head. The last time I did this, made a cake for an event out of town, I did it all ahead of time but drove to the event (only an hour away) right after finishing the cake. I'm a little scared. My hubby thinks I should do it all there. But with the kids, their needs, the time constraints/locale constraints...it just concerns me to wait and do it all at once. Not to mention packing cake pans, cake divider, plus icings (premade) and all my fondant working supplies.

Any thoughts??? Hmmm? I don't have the luxury of an empty backseat or trunk to stick a no slip mat or anything cool like that...the one car with a full backseat and trunk. Doesn't leave much room for...well...much.

Please share any ideas! I'd REALLY appreciate it!

Blessings!

Birthday Dragon

I made this cake to enter in the Creative Cakes Competition. I'm hoping to win something! :)

Either way I had fun learning to carve freehand!! I carved all of this from a cake I had frozen that I didn't use for my "Wedding Birthday Cake". I carved the halved egg, whole egg, and dragon's torso from it and used mini cupcakes to make his neck which I glued onto his torso with buttercream. It was easier than I expected!! I have always been a little scared to lunge at cake with a knife, but it is not as scary as I thought and produced some great results!



The cake was a layer of vanilla and a layer of chocolate with buttercream and decorated entirely in marshmallow fondant and buttercream foliage. The toadstools are mini cupcakes stuck together.

I freehand sculpted his head (UGH this is can be so frustrating!) and made a party hat out of fondant too. I stuck his head in with a toothpick. Maybe not so sturdy in the long run, but for a quick pic and a cake that's going to be cut apart minutes later...it didn't matter much. lol.



He has a tail which you can't see in the first pic! I wish I could get a great pic and show everything, but alas it is not always possible!!!!


Hope you like it!!!!

Blessings!